


A Mission Unlike Any Other

by JadeRiverDay



Series: Tales of Two [1]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Royalty, Based on a Vocaloid Song, F/M, Other, Reader-Insert, basically idk how to write reader inserts, but I love Zhiyu Moke, but it's also sad that there's nothing in the Zhiyu Moke tag, so we're borrowing the plot from a Kagamine song, this made me sad writing it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-24
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:22:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23291650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeRiverDay/pseuds/JadeRiverDay
Summary: "I promised to protect you."In which Zhiyu Moke fails to be a knight in shining armor.
Relationships: Zhiyu Moke/Reader
Series: Tales of Two [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1675576
Kudos: 3





	A Mission Unlike Any Other

**Author's Note:**

> hi! I haven't written reader inserts like this ~~or in general~~ but this one is heavily inspired by/heavily based on ZhuXiaoShengzoki's song 二度使命 (Level Two Mission) featuring the Kagamines!  
> the Chinese version is [here](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1W7411J7CA/) and the Japanese version is [here](https://www.bilibili.com/video/av83782745/)  
> It's basically a translation fic except I tweaked it to fit a reader insert and added some things for Moke!

Long ago, in a land that always rained, there was a dark forest feared by humans, for legend had it that there was a monster hidden in the forest who would kidnap anyone that dared to enter. The arrogant, the weak, the explorers, the fools, anyone who tried to enter the forest never returned from their journey.

Following orders from his king, a young knight named Zhiyu Moke entered the forest seeking the last pure land in the world. He was searching for a place to stay for the night when he found you, a girl wearing a dark mask with a hideous smile painted in sinister golden ink. He felt your stare through that mask, only able to see you thanks to the light from an oil lamp you held. The mask, that smile especially frightened Moke, but as he looked over you, he found the flower pendant hanging around your neck more interesting than your sinister mask. He bit back his fear and swallowed his pride.

"I'm sorry," he said, "but it seems I'm lost. Could you spare some food and water?"

He grew more anxious as you looked around before turning back towards the forest and heading in. Hoping that you had wordlessly agreed to help him, he followed your silent silhouette into the forest with only a little reluctance. Together, the two of you made your way through the forest to a small cottage, where you stopped. He watched you open the door, then upon seeing him again, literally jumping out of fear and slamming the door in his face. He tried knocking on the door countless times, but all attempts were in vain.

"I won't hurt you!" he shouted through the door. "If need be, I can protect you!" That was what being a knight was for, right?

His words seemed to strike you, as he could see through the small window in the door how you froze then paused for a moment before you slowly opened the door and let him in. He wished he could see your face, maybe see why you were so afraid, but he dared not look at your mask. Inside, he found that the cottage was empty, no food nor water, completely against his expectations. Moke took care not to let his surprise show on his face, but he couldn't ignore the how cold it was inside. He picked some dry branches from the cottage roof and made a small fire in the clearly unused fireplace before taking out some food he had in his bag. He put some bread over the fire and let it sit.

 _This cottage definitely looks well made_ , Moke thought to himself. "Do you live here?" he asked you.

Whatever expression your face would have had was covered by your mask as you nodded. He couldn't tell if you were nodding sadly or happily, but he reminded himself that he had an order to follow. Even if you were poor, as it seemed from the barren cottage, he didn't have an obligation to you or your well-being. Despite telling himself this, the urge to pat your hair as a way to comfort you overcame him, and he let himself reach for your hair before shrinking back and continuing to eat.

When the sweet smell of warm bread filled the room, Moke took the bread out of the fireplace. For a moment, he stared dumbly at you as he realized there was no place to put the bread, but you brought out some tableware, two plates, and a candle from a nearby drawer. Why you took out and lit the candle was beyond him; the candle barely illuminated the meal in comparison to the small but lively fire in the fireplace, but together, you two shared a crude yet comforting dinner that night.

* * *

When he woke, Moke found the sun shining through the windows. When he stepped outside, he found that the rain had stopped, and the fearsome, dark forest he remembered from the previous night had vanished, as if the previous night was merely a nightmare. He found no sign of you anywhere, furthering the hypothesis that he had merely dreamt it all.

Before him, he saw the beauty of the forest, vastly different from the darkness that he had entered in the previous day. A clear stream babbled happily into an impossibly clear lake. Under his feet, grass grew lushly. Surrounding him were beautifully green trees stretching as far as he could see. There were even wildlife: a hare resting under the bush, some deer grazing across the lake, and even a lamb running through the trees. He could even hear the birds chirping from somewhere in the depths of the trees, and he listened to their various songs before it dawned on him.

This was the last pure land in the world. The dark forest outside was there to protect this place from the touch of humans, but he had made it through and found this place.

Not knowing what else to do now that he had completed his mission, Moke wandered through the forest, taking in the beauty and purity of nature before being contaminated and warped by human hands. After exploring for quite some time, he found you waiting at the same entrance he took into the forest. You stood guard behind the same tree he passed yesterday.

"It seems like you're the only person in this forest," he remarked.

This time, you showed no signs of being startled by his comment. You turned away from the outside world toward him, and although he still couldn't see your face through your mask, that head tilt of yours was enough to tell him that you were listening. Although you still wore that terrifying mask, Moke felt much less fear than last night; maybe because it was daytime.

"Are you lonely?" he ventured, knowing fully well that he had no reason to ask, and that you had no reason to answer, but...

He watched you look away before giving him the smallest of nods.

"I'm Zhiyu Moke," he introduced himself, only realizing now that he had forgotten to do so. Normally, he was never so stupid, but clearly these weren't "normal" circumstances. "I'm a knight of the Kingdom of Singvi. Can you tell me your name?"

He had to strain his hearing to hear your name uttered so quietly, and he could tell from how your voice cracked that it had gone unused for a long time. He felt sorry for you for having to be alone for so long, so he stayed with you behind the trees and watched you work behind your mask.

Before he knew it, five days had passed. Moke had learned many secrets, like why you wore that mask. He learned that you woke up early and returned to your home late to play the monster that kept people out in order to protect this forest he had come to know in the daytime: the last pure land in this world. Such a place had become the most valuable treasure across the globe; hell, even he was sent to find this place, and he admired your dedication to this place. He had decided that since his king had only instructed him to find this place and had not explicitly instructed him to report back after finding it, he could stay, at least for a little while. But Moke didn't stay for the forest; he stayed firstly because of your pendant, how it changed with every passing day.

Your pendant was a flower, and although Moke couldn't verify if it was a real flower, he was quite certain it was. With every day that passed, he noticed how the flower changed, how its petals seemed to unfurl slowly like a real flower blooming. Every day, he asked you if the flower needed water or once it bloomed, would it bear fruit? To his dissatisfaction, your answer was always "I don't know".

He wished he could stay to see what happened if it bloomed. Moke truly wanted to stay, but he could only fool himself for so long. He would have to eventually bid his farewells to you and head back to his home in Singvi, where upon his report of finding this place, the king would appoint him as a royal knight. On the sixth day, he was just about ready to leave, when he made a strange and frightening discovery.

It was when you were returning from the entrance again, but this time you came back earlier, when the sun was still setting. Moke had noticed that since the first day he met you, the light of the sun seemed to bend around you, always making you seem like you were shrouded in the same darkness that protected this last pure land, but he noticed how that darkness seemed to fade over time. Although he knew that you had changed slightly over the past few days, it startled him to see you in the sunlight, and to see that you had no shadow in the sunlight. He said nothing of this to you; as far as he could tell behind that hideous mask of yours, you didn't seem to notice. Since then, he wondered how something so strange could have been overlooked by him of all people, but this observation also led him to the question of "since when did you have no shadow?".

Later on, when he would look back on this time, Moke would always wonder if your shadow had been gone since the beginning or if it had slowly faded away as slowly as the flower blooming on your neck.

* * *

On the seventh day, you escorted him to the entrance of the forest, the exact same place you met him. It was time to send him off. 

As you walked, you could feel the air pass through you hands. You had to turn your head to look at Moke's hand, which was trying to touch yours, but every time he almost touched your hand, his fingers passed through your hand. You wished that he could see your sad smile, but you knew with this mask on, he would never be able to truly know you.

This knight, this mere child had grown on you. You wished you could spend more time with him, but you knew that your own time in this world was limited. He saw the flower, and you wondered if he understood what it meant, what it symbolized for you.

"Knight Moke", you asked, your voice cracking despite the smile you wore behind your mask. "Can you hug me?"

To your happiness, he obliged, and as he pulled you close to him, you turned your head to place your ear on his chest. You sighed contentedly in the warmth, despite this sensation of closeness and warmth being so foreign to you. You felt the petals of the flower finally touching your skin, and one by one, the petals fell off of the dying blossom. The wind blew through the forest and through your body, and you felt yourself fading with every coming breeze.

"It's come down to this," you managed to whisper. "The flower has bloomed, and so I must leave." Your quiet voice couldn't conceal your wonder as slowly, from the bottom up, your body began to fade. "Without me, this forest will have no guardian..."

You heard his gasps, and you felt something fall into your hair. Reaching into your hair with your vanishing hands, you find his tears had fallen onto your hair. He released you from the embrace, took both of your hands, and kneeled before you. Looking into your eyes, Moke told you, "Don't forget who I am. I am Zhiyu Moke. I promised to be your knight, to protect you and to protect what you protect. I will protect with everything I have."

His sincerity shocked you and you found tears in your eyes too. Reluctantly pulling away from his warm hands, you took off the mask you had worn for so long. You let yourself bathe in the warmth of the sunlight, feeling the tears run down your face and a sense of finality come over you. It was time for both of you to leave this forest, just in different ways, and you accepted that. Actually, you did more than just accept this; you cherished Moke's presence here with you as a gift, because it was a gift. You always believed that no one would be there to see you leave, and yet Moke had come. You smiled fully at him, not knowing the words to give him your gratitude, but hoping that he could sense it through your tears. If you looked closely, you could see that same smile, and those sad eyes, reflected in his eyes. You haven't seen yourself in so long, and you wondered how Moke saw you now.

You handed him the mask in your final moments. Just before you vanished entirely, you whispered, "Goodbye."

* * *

After a moment of silence, Zhiyu Moke put on that mask and vanished into the forest.


End file.
